New Audio: Montreal-based Indie Rock Act Chocolat Return with a Trippy, Prog Rock-Inspired New Single

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site, you may recall that I’ve written about Montreal-based psych rock/indie rock quintet Chocolat — and with the release of their 2008 full-length debut effort, Piano Elegant, the Canadian act received critical praise for material comprised of sophisticated arrangements with a gritty garage rock sound that also simultaneously drew from yeye and indie rock. And as a result of the attention from the press and blogosphere, the band played several dates with the renowned Jay Reatard — that is before quickly and completely disappearing from the public eye. Interestingly, as it turned out, the band had gone on an extensive and somewhat unannounced hiatus in which several members pursued other creative pursuits — in particular, Ysaël Pépin played bass and toured with Demon’s Claws while Jimmy Hunt focused on a solo career as a singer/songwriter, collaborating with producer Emmanuel Ether and Organ Mood‘s Christophe Larmarche-Ledoux on his 2013 effort, Maladie d’amour.

According to press notes, the members of the Montreal-based indie rock band were brought back together by a strange force of nature for their 2014 release Tss Tss, an album that was released to international acclaim for a sound that drew from psych rock and krautrock, and was supported by several tours both nationally and internationally. And building upon the buzz that they received after the release of Tss Tss, the Canadian band will be releasing their third full-length album, Rencontrer Looloo on November 11, 2016 through Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records. And as you would have heard “Ah Ouin,” the album’s first single, the single suggests that the band has been heavily experimenting with their songwriting approach — the material is heavily modal-leaning while with that single possesses elements of skronking and screeching experimental, avant-garde jazz, surfer rock, surfer metal and psych rock. The album’s second and latest single “Le Falcon el Chacal et le Vaisseau Spatial” begins with a twinkling analog synth introduction reminiscent of 80s cartoons followed by lengthier section consisting angular guitar stabs, swirling electronics, bop jazz-like syncopation, followed by a much more anthemic section consisting of angular power chords and a steady rhythm, twinkling synths and a fiery guitar solo to craft a song that not only sonically and structurally sounds indebted to prog rock but nods at psych rock and classic, arena rock.

William Ruben Helms

I'm a music blogger, critic and photographer, who has had articles and photos published in The New York Press, New York Magazine's Vulture Blog, Ins&Outs Magazine, The Noise Beneath the Apple, Glide Magazine, The Whiskey Dregs Magazine and others.